


Daphne

by ineedthislikeaholeinthehead



Category: American Actor RPF, British Actor RPF, The Hobbit RPF
Genre: Adoption, Established Relationship, Kid!Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-10
Updated: 2016-08-10
Packaged: 2018-08-07 23:49:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7734616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ineedthislikeaholeinthehead/pseuds/ineedthislikeaholeinthehead
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Richard and Lee are ready to take the next step in their relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Daphne

**Author's Note:**

> I got an idea in my head and had to write it to get it out. Enjoy.

“Did you forget the blanket, Lee?” Richard had been gripping the steering wheel for the entire drive, and his knuckles were white from the pressure. He felt he was allowed to be nervous on a day like today, though, and looked over at Lee who was reaching into the back seat, jealously.

How could he be so calm? This was the most important day of their lives so far, and Lee was sitting in the car, listening to music, talking about the mundanities of life, and being overall jovial like nothing was happening.

“It’s right here, Rich.” He said, pulling up a bag so he could show him the crocheted blanket that Richard’s mother had posted when she’d heard the news. Things had been dramatically less tense as soon as adoption had been brought into the conversation between him and his parents.

He felt Lee’s hand begin to lightly rub his shoulder.

“Everything’s fine.” He assured him, and with Lee beside him, Richard felt that Lee might just be right.

They parked at the hospital and made their way through the maze of hallways until they found the maternity ward.

A lot of parents wouldn’t get this sort of experience- to see their daughter so early, so new. But Richard and Lee had agreed to an open adoption, and once they’d met her, Monique was more than happy to let them come to the birth.

Of course, they hadn’t actually made it to the birth, stupidly assuming they would have enough time to get there once it started, and not correctly factoring in distance or traffic. Neither one of them was particularly distraught about this, as long as both Monique and the baby were fine, they were not married to the idea of watching the messy parts of how it came to be.

Their caseworker, Amelia, was waiting for them when they finally found their way.

She gave them both a hug before saying anything.

“How are they?” Richard asked. She gave him a cheery smile.

“They’re both resting. Everything went smoothly.” Richard and Lee breathed a sigh of relief. “Are you ready?” She asked.

“Of course!” Lee said, and Amelia brought them to Monique’s room.

She was barely awake. Richard walked over to her.

“Long night?” He joked. She smiled up, and took his hand.

“Worth it.” She told him. Richard enjoyed this moment. Looking into Monique’s gorgeous brown eyes, he could already feel his fatherly instincts kicking in. This was his first child, but Monique was incredibly young. He could practically be her grandfather.

But as young as she was, she was smart, put into a bad situation and desperately wanting better for her child than she was ever going to have. They’d known after one phone call that she was the one, and even after the surprise of her appearance (on more than one occasion she had explained to Richard and Lee what “White Voice” was after their first meeting) they had no qualms about their choice.

“Doing alright?” Lee asked, standing beside her other side.

“As well as you can expect.” She said, attempting to sit up a little more. Lee handed her the remote for her adjustable bed.

“Alright you three, I’m going to get the baby.” Amelia said. Once they were alone, Monique became a bit more animated.

“She’s beautiful, you guys. I don’t want to brag, but she is. I did a good job for you.” Lee laughed.

“Was there ever even a chance that you wouldn’t?” He asked.

“No. I’m only saying. I deliver.” She beamed at the two of them.

They had no idea what she had gone through for them. Not just the birth, which was painful, but easy compared to high school, but the entire pregnancy and adoption. Her mother, another in a long line of single mothers, had wanted her to keep it. But with her sister’s son living with them, there wasn’t any room, which was the least of her issues.

She didn’t want to drop out of school (even if it meant being one of the pregnant girls for all of sophomore year.) She wanted to go to college, and she wanted to make something of herself, and she knew she was smart enough to do it.

They’d been honest with her when she’d come to the agency- finding good parents for black babies was not easy. Even if the baby was half white. It wasn’t fair, but it was statistically true. Monique was convinced that she would be an exception to the rule. And she was.

Who could have expected a couple of real life movie stars would be looking for a kid? When Angelica had told her that she was in the top 5 candidates and would need to talk to them, Monique was a little nervous about their careers, but after talking to Richard and Lee, she was holding her breath to be selected.

Of course, the selection was a dramatic one for Monique. Two white men raising her baby? She honestly didn’t realize there would be such an uproar. It wasn’t as much the whiteness (though that annoyed more than one of her family members.) Her father, who never paid attention to her, suddenly had a lot to say about white people taking their children. Though he never did seem to have a complaint about it being two men.

There were enough others to hate on that, of course. Daniel, the jerk who had gotten her pregnant and bailed, decided that he needed to be in the picture now, which was a whole ordeal. He eventually signed over his parental rights, but it wasn’t an easy fight.

She had kept everything from Richard and Lee. They were a good couple, and she knew they would stay true to their words and let her visit and be a part of the baby’s life. She could tell they would love her, no matter what, and what more could you wish for your child? They didn’t need the drama.

Amelia walked back in, a nurse behind her wheeling in their daughter.

“Who wants her first?” The nurse asked. Richard and Lee were able to peel their eyes away from the miracle so they could look at each other.

“Monique.” Richard finally said, watching her eyes light up.

“You don’t have to… She’s your daughter.” Lee put his hand on her arm gently.

“She’s your daughter, too.” He said. She nodded, grateful to both men for being so understanding.

The nurse put the baby in her arms, and she let out a yawn, then nuzzled against Monique.

“She might be hungry.” The nurse suggested. Monique looked up at Richard.

“Do you mind?” She asked.

“If you feed our baby? No, we don’t mind, dear.” Richard told her. She unbuttoned her gown and the baby quickly latched on, but quickly had her fill.

“Does one of you want to burp her?” Monique asked. Lee quickly took the chance.

“I’ve been practicing.” He said, putting a cloth over his shoulder.

“On what?” Richard asked.

“The dog.” Lee said. Richard tried to get a mental image of Lee burping the bloody dog, but nothing looked quite right. He also wondered when Lee was secretly doing this, and came to the conclusion that Mr. Pace was absolutely full of shit.

Then, Richard’s knees went weak as he watched his husband take the baby from Monique and put her on his shoulder.

My daughter he thought with a huge swelling of pride emanating from his heart and warming his entire body.

Richard had always wanted this- a loving spouse, a beautiful child. This didn’t look anything like how he had imagined it. It wasn’t what he’d imagined. It was better.

The baby was done, and Lee turned first to the bag, and then to Richard. He handed him the blanket that had suddenly become the least important thing in the world, and the looked into Richard’s eyes.

“You ready?” He asked.

“More than ready.” Richard told him, and Lee placed the baby in his arms.

He was astonished. She was so tiny, so beautiful, so perfect. How could something barely bigger than his hand suddenly have become his entire world? He didn’t care. He didn’t care about anything else except making sure that this perfect little girl had everything her heart desired.

He felt a swelling in his stomach, remembered when he’d felt something similar- on a movie set in New Zealand so many years ago- and instantly recognized it- Richard knew he was falling in love.

Eventually, Lee took a seat next to Monique’s bed, and laughed with her about how enthralled Richard was with the baby.

“I guess we know who’s gonna spoil her.” He joked.

“Oh, I’m sure there’s gonna be tons of opportunities for you to spoil her.” Monique promised.

Amelia suddenly appeared again.

“You guys?” She asked, and everyone looked up. “If you want, we can do the birth certificate now. Do you have the name picked out?” Richard and Lee looked at each other for a second, then at Monique.

“I got something on my face?” She asked.

“We were thinking of Daphne.” Richard said.

“It’s a pretty name.” She told them.

“Daphne..Monique.” Lee said. Monique looked at them confused.

“You want to give her my name?”

“Only if you’re alright with it.” Richard said.

“Of course I am!” She told them. “If this is rude, forgive me… but what’s the last name? I don’t know how that works when you have two…”

“It’s Armitage.” Richard said. They’d had a lot of conversations about it, and funny enough, Lee had been the one to insist.

“My parents don’t care about names as much as his do.”

“Daphne Monique Armitage.” Monique said. “Sounds like the name of someone who’s going places.”

They all smiled in agreement. 


End file.
